A pair of upcoming events centered on the Rev. Yolanda — a country gospel singer and drag queen — have been canceled at Unity Church of Boulder after the organization's leadership declined to promote them and compared the performer to someone in a Chuck E. Cheese costume.

Unity, 2855 Folsom St., had been scheduled on Friday to screen "Rev. Yolanda's Old Time Gospel Hour: The Movie," a documentary by Boulder filmmaker Ike Allen that focuses on the singer-songwriter and ordained minister's message of love and acceptance.

But Allen said he canceled the Unity screening, as well as a live Rev. Yolanda performance booked for Oct. 2, after the church's leaders declined to promote either event on the basis that Yolanda's act was "campy," "bawdy" and "spectacle for spectacle's sake."

In an interview with the Daily Camera, Unity Senior Minister Jack Groverland said the act "did a disservice to transgender people."

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Both events are now scheduled for the First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1128 Pine St..

"We didn't want to bring Yolanda into a place where they are really not behind her," Allen said of the falling out with Unity, a church that emphasizes acceptance and diversity.

"I don't want to host someone somewhere where people don't want them to be, especially when that person is singing about love and inclusiveness."

Allen, who, along with partner Ande Anderson, owns and operates media company Avaiya New Thought Network, said Unity staff members originally tried to back out of the arrangement entirely before Groverland offered up the venue without additional support.

'Wouldn't reflect on the type of talent we have'

Groverland last week verified that his church had decided it could not promote the Rev. Yolanda, but flatly denied that the decision had anything to do with discrimination.

"Gender and sexual orientation has nothing whatsoever to do with them coming here, but what does have something to do with it is talent," Groverland said. "We wouldn't promote it because it wouldn't reflect on the type of talent we have here."

In a news release posted to the Avaiya website last week, Allen included an audio recording he made of a discussion with church administrator Michael Schadle when the two met on Aug. 23 to discuss the situation.

In the recording, a man identified as Schadle can be heard relating Rev. Yolanda's performances — in which she dresses in a beehive wig and bright, sequined, drag-queen attire — to someone wearing a Chuck E. Cheese outfit on stage.

"This is spectacle for spectacle's sake," Schadle is heard saying.

Groverland confirmed that it was Schadle on that recording and defended the church's position.

"We had no problem with (hosting the events) until we saw the actual excerpts or clips of the film and unanimously decided the show just didn't come up the caliber of the kind of entertainment that we have here," Groverland said, adding the Old Time Gospel Hour was "bawdy" and "campy" and "did a disservice to transgender people."

"Yolanda wears a terribly ridiculous blond wig and clowns around in that," Groverland said. "We personally couldn't in good conscience promote such a thing. It would have been an insult to the intelligence to the kind of audience we have here."

'Hurt and sad' by church's reaction

Allen, who also made the documentary "New Thought: The Movie" that focused on the religious movement that Unity is part of, said he is "hurt and sad" after the disintegration of the two planned events.

He said the Unity of Church of Denver also backed out of hosting Rev. Yolanda events, leaving him scrambling for replacement venues after he already invested in promotion and paid for Yolanda to come to Colorado from New York for the film screenings and live shows.

In Boulder, a replacement venue was found very quickly, as church leaders at First Congregational last week agreed to host both the film premiere and the live performance.

"Talk about a cosmic shift," Allen said. "Here I go to a Christian church to promote an interfaith minister drag queen film."

Martie McMane, the senior minister at First Congregational, said after speaking with Allen about the events and watching the movie trailer, she felt good about hosting Yolanda.

"It looks like it is going to be a fun show itself, but also a show that's not frivolously fun, but fun in a deeply theological way and saying all people matter and all people need to be accepted for who they are," she said. "I hope people come."

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